Name: Chicken Karaage Bento (Inspired by the Singa Lion)
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 128 min
Total time: 188 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Mains
Ingredients: 580 g Japanese short grain rice; 580 ml water; 1/8 tsp Red food colouring; 1/4 tsp Yellow food colouring; 60 ml Japanese rice vinegar; 2 Tbsp Sugar; 1/2 tsp Salt; 500 g Boneless chicken thigh, cubed; 1 Tbsp Garlic, chopped; 1 Tbsp Light soy sauce; 1/2 tsp Salt; 1 Tbsp Sake (optional); 1 dash pepper; 1 Egg; 3 Tbsp Potato starch; 200 ml Oil; 10 Crabsticks; 1 small floret Broccoli, chopped; 1/2 sheet Japanese toasted seaweed; 7 leaves of Lettuce; 4 Cherry tomatoes; 2 slabs Chicken ham; 1/2 slab Soft cheese; 1 slab Lemon

Chicken Karaage Bento (Inspired by the Singa Lion)

Level

difficult

Cooking

128 min

Preparation

60 min

Ingredients

Servings

Rice
Japanese short grain rice	580 g
water	580 ml
Red food colouring	¹⁄₈ tsp
Yellow food colouring	¹⁄₄ tsp
Japanese rice vinegar	60 ml
Sugar	2 tbsp
Salt	¹⁄₂ tsp
Chicken Karaage
Boneless chicken thigh, cubed	500 g
Garlic, chopped	1 tbsp
Light soy sauce	1 tbsp
Salt	¹⁄₂ tsp
Sake (optional)	1 tbsp
pepper	1 dash
Egg	1
Potato starch	3 tbsp
Oil	200 ml
Garnishing
Crabsticks	10
small floret Broccoli, chopped	1
sheet Japanese toasted seaweed	¹⁄₂
leaves of Lettuce	7
Cherry tomatoes	4
Chicken ham	2 slabs
Soft cheese	¹⁄₂ slab
Lemon	1 slab

How to cook

Prepare the Rice

Wash and cook the rice in the following portions:
White rice: 435g of rice, 435ml of water.
Bright orange rice: 145g of rice, 145ml of water, red and yellow food colouring.
Add rice vinegar, sugar and salt to a pot and heat just until sugar is completely dissolved. Allow to cool.
Once the rice is cooked, add in cooled vinegar solution.

Prepare the Chicken Karaage

Marinate chicken with garlic, light soy sauce, salt, sake, pepper and egg, mixing well. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours, best overnight.
Coat chicken pieces evenly with potato starch.
Heat up oil over medium-high heat. Deep fry until light golden (around 1½ minutes), flipping midway.
Remove and place on wire rack to cool and drain excess oil.
Prepare a second deep fry to purge excess oil and create a crispier skin. Heat up the oil over high heat.
Fry for around 1 minute until the chicken turns a nice golden colour.

Decorating

Steam the crabstick and broccoli until soft.
Shape the Japanese rice to form Singa’s face, hands, t-shirt, and heart. Wrap some rice in cling film and compress lightly into a ball, then shape into the various elements.
Unroll the red section of crab sticks and wrap them around the heart shaped rice ball.
Cut the Japanese seaweed using the provided template to achieve the details for Singa’s face and the words.
Arrange the ingredients to form the bento.

Shop ingredients